A Hat Full of Sky
A Hat Full of Sky is a novel written by Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, written with younger readers in mind. First published in 2004, it is set two years after The Wee Free Men, and features an 11-year old Tiffany Aching. The book is also a sequel to the Discworld short story "The Sea and Little Fishes", which introduced the Witch Trials and Mrs Earwig. It is followed by Wintersmith. Plot A Hat Full of Sky revisits the young witch Tiffany Aching, who is preparing to leave home and learn witchcraft. Early in the novel, Tiffany Aching leaves her home in the chalk country (based on England's chalk country) to act as an apprentice and maid for the elderly witch Miss Level. Her former teacher, Miss Tick, who is also a witch, escorts her to the town of Twoshirts. While waiting for Miss Level to arrive, they are attacked by a hiver which is a creature that takes over your mind and cannot be killed or seen. The encounter last only for a few seconds before it leaves but it gives Tiffany and Miss Tick a fright. Miss Level arrives on a broomstick and takes Tiffany to her cottage in the mountains. When she settles in, Tiffany discovers that Miss Level has two bodies and she has a spirit named Oswald, an ondageist which is a sort of reverse poltergeist, a spirit that is an obsessive house cleaner. After settling into the cottage, Tiffany joins a group of apprentice witches her age ostensibly led by Annagramma Hawkin, whose leadership claim is based on having the tallest hat, the loudest voice and being bossy. Tiffany leaves the group upset after telling them about her imaginary hat. While in her room at the cottage, the hiver finds her and takes over her body and mind. At first Tiffany doesn't realize what has happened, but when she does, it is too late for her to take action. The hiver (as Tiffany) causes chaos, steals Mr Weavall's money and causes Annagramma to fear her. Working with Miss Level to learn the use of plants, She takes dislike to her studies, finding the work of the witches to be thankless, dull and pointless. They work long hours helping the sick, young or elderly who are not self-sufficient. A hiver, a mysterious and dangerous creature, enters Tiffany's mind causing her to abuse her powers of magic. It is explained that the Hiver does not change the way she acts, merely allows her to do what she would do without a conscience. Her fellow witches are worried by Tiffany's strange behavior and try to bring her back to herself. The Nac Mac Feegle arrive to help Tiffany and, along with Miss Level, enter Tiffany's mind in order to drive off the Hiver. With the help of Mistress Weatherwax, Tiffany traps the Hiver and learns its true purpose, which is to seek shelter from the world, where it is aware of everything, or, as Tiffany calls it 'opening your eyes and opening them again'. Tiffany eventually leads it to Death where it finally crosses the desert to the afterlife. At the end of the novel, Tiffany returns to her home to take the place of her grandmother as witch for the people. A witch's hat is very important, because it lets other people know that you are a witch. However through the story it is revealed Tiffany does not need the traditional hat that she had been wearing as the sky forms her hat. Popular References In looking down on the white horse, Tiffany tells Miss Tick, 'taint what a horse looks like, It's what a horse be". This is a reference to the Uffington White Horse which is cut in the chalk on the South Downs of England. It has the energy and flow of a horse in motion and is best viewed from the air, another one of the examples Erich von Daniken used in his book "Chariot of the Gods" to 'prove' that earth was colonized or visited from space millennia ago. Pratchett has referred to von Daniken in round about way before. See also *Uffington White Horse Translations *''Klobouk s oblohou'' (Czech) *''Een hoed van lucht'' (Dutch) *''En hat fuld af himmel'' (Danish) *''Kübaratäis taevast'' (Estonian) *''Tähtihattu'' (Finnish) *''Ein Hut voller Sterne'' (German) *''Un cappello pieno di stelle'' (Italian) *''En hatt full av himmel'' (Norwegian) *''Kapelusz pełen nieba'' (Polish) *''Un Chapeau De Ciel'' (French) *''Шляпа, полная небес (Russian) * כובע מלא שמיים (Hebrew) * ''Un sombrero lleno de cielo (Spanish) * Шапка пълна с небе (Bulgarian) External links *Annotations Notes Category:Novels Category:Tiffany Aching series Category:Books Category:Books (real-world)